Wittering, 7th December. Driving along the A1 and saw Harriers in the circuit, but an accident up ahead meant I was delayed getting to the airfield and only caught one jet taxiing back in after landing, and one being towed out for engine runs. A practice 8-ship flypast is on the cards for tomorrow.

And the real reason the Harrier is being retired so quickly... rampant corrosion!

Or not. Nice windsock mount though.

Last edited by DamienB on Thu 09 Dec 2010, 7:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Wittering, 8th December. Practice for the IV(R) Sqn and NSW pilots, though only 7 jets got up not 8. If they follow the same course for the big flypast next week, then anywhere in Wittering village would make a good viewing location as the flypast today was aimed right at the eastern end of the airfield, coming from the north/north west.

Yes it was pretty dark and VERY cold by this point...

Last edited by DamienB on Thu 09 Dec 2010, 7:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Apologies for going day by day instead of week by week but it'd be silly not to when I have the opportunity...

Wittering, 9th December. The plan was to move all the airframes to Cottesmore. However, while the manly men at Wittering were out with shovels and snowploughs at the first hint of snowfall, the poor lost souls of Cottesmore were shivering in the mess, deciding which piano would burn the best and thus the runway and taxiways were still unfit to receive visitors today. So the Wittering boys flew anyway, touring the country with - sadly unpublicised - flypasts at various locations. And then they landed back at Wittering. Another try tomorrow apparently...

Anyway on with the pics, starting off in dull light for the first launch early in the morning:

...but it had come over all sunny by the time they came back and pretty much stayed that way:

And this, ZH659 '107', could well be the last Harrier ever to land at RAF Wittering:

Wittering, 10th December. The Home of the Harrier no more... a grey and miserable day as these sorts of days so often are. 16-ship practice flypast cancelled; 8 jets departed Wittering for the last time, bound for Cottesmore.

The first 7 all took off and climbed quickly, distant from my position...

But "Striker 10" very kindly taxied down past the tower just to give those of us on the fence a closer look at his jet.

This one's for the lady in the landrover...

And this one's for Striker 10 - many thanks!

"Striker 10, for the last time, you are cleared for take off"

And that was the end of Harrier operations from RAF Wittering.

Monday will hopefully see a 16-ship practice, then Wednesday the real thing, and that's it for the Harrier.

Last edited by DamienB on Fri 10 Dec 2010, 5:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.